Evaluation of CD4+ T Cells in HIV Patients Presenting with Malaria at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital Nigeria

CD4 count is an important immunological marker of disease progression in HIV seropositive patients. This study was carried out to determine the effect of malaria or fever of unknown origin on the population of CD4+ T lymphocytes of HIV seropositive patients attending the highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) clinic of the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Ilorin, Nigeria. 36 subjects were selected for this study. Ongoing history of fever was used as a case definition for malaria and malaria was confirmed from microscopic examination of thick and thin film of blood sample obtained from the patients during presentation with fever. The CD4 count was evaluated during presentation of fever and post-fever using flow cytometry. There was significant decrease in CD4 count of the patients. However, upon classifying the patients into 2 groups - those that returned to the clinic after a week and those that returned after a month - a significant increase in CD4 count was noticed in the group that returned after a week, while a significant decrease was noticed in the group that returned after a month (at p value of 95%). Further classification of the patients based on presence of malaria parasite, and body temperature resulted in varying effects on CD4 count post-fever (in the general group, 27 were positive for malaria parasites. Of these 27, there was an increase in CD4 count in 9 (33.3%). However in the group that returned after a week, all 6 (100%) that were positive for malaria parasites showed increase in CD4 count. Five (26.3%) of the 19 patients that had body temperature within the range of 35.5-37.4^o^C showed an increase in CD4 count, while 7 (41.2%) the 17 patients that had body temperature of 37.5^o^C and above showed an increase in CD4 count. The results led to the conclusion that while some components of the immune response to malaria could strengthen the immune system of HIV seropositive patients by increasing their CD4 count, other components will suppress their immunity by decreasing their CD4 count, accelerating the progression to AIDS

Assessment of the Financial Information Disclosures of Pension Fund Administrators in Nigeria

The study investigates extent of compliance of Pension Fund Administrators in Nigeria with PENCOM financial information disclosures guidelines with a view to ensuring that there is transparency and accountability in the management of the contributory pension schemes. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Primary data were sourced from four hundred (400) respondents that are retirees under the contributory pension scheme through administration of questionnaire while secondary data were gathered from the annual reports of eleven (11) Pension Fund Administrators that were purposively selected based on size of fund under management and number of contributions. Primary data were analysed using descriptive statistics while secondary data were analysed using disclosure index to measure the extent of compliance. The study found that 9 out of the 11 sampled Pension Fund Administrators did not achieve 100% compliance on disclosure of financial information in their annual reports in accordance with PENCOM guidelines. Also, the channels of communication of accounting information to members of contributory pension plans in Nigeria on the performance of the fund under management of the PFAs are not meeting members' information needs. Furthermore, result showed that contributors displayed lack of knowledge of contributory pension schemes investment activities and risks. It was recommended that PENCOM should ensure compliance with the PENCOM financial reporting guidelines by the Pension Fund Administrators to enhance prudency and transparency in the management of contributory pension fund in Nigeria. Although annual reports are used by several users, yet contributors to contributory pension schemes as principals of the PFAs in agency relationship should be given more considerations in the choice of channels of communicating financial information to meet their information need and expectations

Development and Exploration of Controlled Automated Scissors Car Jack for Vehicle Maintenance

The scissors jack is a commonly used mechanical device for vehicle maintenance and other applications. However, its operation requires significant energy input, posing challenges and complexities, particularly for certain demographics. In response, this paper presents a novel approach to automate the scissors car jack, integrating it with an Android application to enhance energy efficiency, ease of operation, and safety. The motorized lifting system incorporates a car wiper DC motor with an internal gearing system to drive the lead screw of the scissors jack, enabling smooth upward and downward motions. An electrical circuit, comprising a microcontroller, voltage regulator crystal oscillator, diode, resistor, transistor, relay, and Bluetooth module was designed to power the motor through the vehicle's 12V cigarette port and control its rotational direction. Furthermore, an Android application, developed using the MIT App Inventor, serves as a remote control for the DC motor. Through this research, significant advancements in energy efficiency and operational convenience are achieved, while also ensuring enhanced safety during vehicle maintenance. The integration of the scissors jack with an Android application allows users to remotely control the lifting process, providing a more user-friendly and intuitive experience. The findings contribute to the fields of automotive technology, automation, and mechanical systems by offering an innovative solution for efficient and safe vehicle maintenance. In conclusion, this paper presents an automated scissors car jack system integrated with an Android application, showcasing improved energy efficiency, ease of use, and safety. The research findings provide valuable insights for practitioners and researchers alike, advancing knowledge and practice in the field of automotive maintenance and automation

Benchmarking RCGAu on the Noiseless BBOB Testbed

RCGAu is a hybrid real-coded genetic algorithm with “uniform random direction” search mechanism. The uniform random direction search mechanism enhances the local search capability of RCGA. In this paper, RCGAu was tested on the BBOB-2013 noiseless testbed using restarts till a maximum number of function evaluations (#FEs) of 105 × D are reached, where D is the dimension of the function search space. RCGAu was able to solve several test functions in the low search dimensions of 2 and 3 to the desired accuracy of 108. Although RCGAu found it difficult in getting a solution with the desired accuracy 108 for high conditioning and multimodal functions within the specified maximum #FEs, it was able to solve most of the test functions with dimensions up to 40 with lower precisions

Determinants of Financial Inclusion in Sub-Sahara African Countries

As the exclusion of large percentage of population has been identified as major obstacle to inclusive growth and development in developing countries of the world it is against this background this study investigates the determinants of financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa using Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL). The results from the study reveal that financial inclusion in the region is meaningfully influenced by both demand side factors (level of income and literacy) and Supply side factors (Interest rate and bank innovation proxy by ATM usage). Government in the sub region should put policy in place to promote financial literacy and other forms of innovative banking in their respective country as this will go a long way in promoting financial inclusion in the region

Prevalence and pattern of prescription errors in a Nigerian kidney hospital

Objectives: To determine (i) the prevalence and pattern of prescription errors in our Centre and, (ii) appraise pharmacists’ intervention and correction of identified prescription errors.Design: A descriptive, single blinded cross-sectional study.Setting: Kidney Care Centre is a public Specialist hospital. The monthly patient load averages 60 General Outpatient cases and 17.4 in-patients.Participants: A total of 31 medical doctors (comprising of 2 Consultant Nephrologists, 15 Medical Officers, 14 House Officers), 40 nurses and 24 ward assistants participated in the study. One pharmacist runs the daily call schedule. Prescribers were blinded to the study. Prescriptions containing only galenicals were excluded.Interventions: An error detection mechanism was set up to identify and correct prescription errors. Life-threatening prescriptions were discussed with the Quality Assurance Team of the Centre who conveyed such errors to the prescriber without revealing the on-going study.Main outcome measures: Prevalence of prescription errors, pattern of prescription errors, pharmacist’s intervention.Results: A total of 2,660 (75.0%) combined prescription errors were found to have one form of error or the other; illegitimacy 1,388 (52.18%), omission 1,221(45.90%), wrong dose 51(1.92%) and no error of style was detected. Life-threatening errors were low (1.1-2.2%). Errors were found more commonly among junior doctors and nonmedical doctors. Only 56 (1.6%) of the errors were detected and corrected during the process of dispensing.Conclusion: Prescription errors related to illegitimacy and omissions were highly prevalent. There is a need to improve on patient-to-healthcare giver ratio. A medication quality assurance unit is needed in our hospitals.Funding: No financial support was received by any of the authors for this study.Keywords: Doctors, drugs, hospitals, Nigeria, prescription errors

Development of Fingerprint Biometric Attendance System for Non-Academic Staff in a Tertiary Institution

Institutions, companies and organisations where security and net productivity is vital, access to certain areas must be controlled and monitored through an automated system of attendance. Managing people is a difficult task for most of the organizations and maintaining the attendance record is an important factor in people management. When considering the academic institute, taking the attendance of non-academic staff on daily basis and maintaining the records is a major task. Manually taking attendance and maintaining it for a long time adds to the difficulty of this task as well as wastes a lot of time. For this reason, an efficient system is proposed in this paper to solve the problem of manual attendance. This system takes attendance electronically with the help of a fingerprint recognition system, and all the records are saved for subsequent operations. Staff biometric attendance system employs an automated system to calculate attendance of staff in an organization and do further calculations of monthly attendance summary in order to reduce human errors during calculations. In essence, the proposed system can be employed in curbing the problems of lateness, buddy punching and truancy in any institution, organization or establishment. The proposed system will also improve the productivity of any organization if properly implemented. Keywords: Institution, Attendance, Biometric, Fingerprin

Resilience of African migrants: An integrative review

© 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. African migrant women represent a rapidly growing cohort of new arrivals in many countries. Many of these women demonstrate strength and resilience throughout the stressful migration process. In this integrative review, we explore the literature on African migrants' resilience using an ecological framework. Nine peer-reviewed journal articles and six grey literature documents were reviewed. Key internal and external factors in achieving resilience were identified, discussed, and diagrammatically represented using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Framework under micro-, meso-, exo-, and macro-levels. Our findings show that the capacity for resilience demonstrated during migration could have implications for policy and practice

DETERMINING THE INDIVIDUAL SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR IN HOUSING DELIVERY IN NIGERIA

One of the greatest challenge confronting both rural and urban residents in Nigeria is the need to provide adequate shelter. This study examined the individual significant contribution of the public and private sector in public-private partnerships (PPP) in housing contracts in Ogun State, Nigeria. A field survey was conducted in government ministries (public sector) and some selected professionals (private sector) within the study area. Information gathered from both primary and secondary data was used to determine the significant contribution of the public and private sector in housing delivery. Questionnaires were distributed through systematic sampling method to 58 respondents in both private and public sector participating in PPP housing production in the study area. Result showed that the significant contribution of the public sector in PPP housing provision in Nigeria is the provision of land while the private sector contributes significantly high percentage of finance, manpower and technical support. The study recommended that for successful implementation of PPP housing projects, all tiers of government must strive to complement the weaknesses of the public sector with the strengths of the private sector. Furthermore, since the private sector provides bulk of the finance for PPP housing projects, government should provide a more conducive economic environment to attract more private sector investors

Effect of Sowing Dates, Intra-Row Spacings and Nitrogen Fertilizers of the Productivity of Red Variant Roselle (Hibiscus sabdarifa L)

Field experiments were conducted during the rainy seasons (June - Odober) of 1999 and 2000, at the research farm of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria to study the effects of some agronomic practices on the growth and yield of roselle. Three agronomic practices (sowing dates, intra-row spacing and nitrogenous fertilizer levels) at three levels each, were factorially combined to give a total of 27 treatment combinations. These were laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Most of the results obtained were highly significant (P50.01). Sowing dates (June) gave the highest mean calyx (2035.15 kg/ha) and seed (2391.19 kg/ha) yields in both years. Intra-row spacing (80 em) gave the highest mean calyx (1651.11 kg/ha) and seed (2024.40 kg/ha) yields. Also, application of 60 kg N/ha gave the highest mean calyx (1671.99 kg/ha) and seed (2067.36 kg/ha) yields. It is evident from the results of this experiment that, the earlier the sowing of dates, the wider the intra-row spacing and the higher the nitrogenous fertilizer level, the higher the productivity of red variant roselle. Sequel to these facts, roselle sown in June at intra-row spacing of 80 em should be applied with 60 kg N / ha for optimum productivity in the study area